Radio Silence

Sorry for the long stint with no real posts.  I have had a bunch going on but I really don't know how to talk about the most important thing that has been going on.

Just before Christmas my mom had a bit of a health scare, the result of the health scare was a full hysterectomy.  Standard procedure for this type of thing is to check for cancer.  During that check they did find cancer and not just any run of the mill cancer but a really weird, rare, aggressive form.  My mom is currently starting round two of her four rounds of chemo treatment.  More than anything I want to go home and be with her, take care of her, do her grocery shopping and clean her toilet.  But that's not what she wants.  So for now I am here, praying, hoping, wishing that everything will turn out all right. That she will come out of this even healthier than she went in.  That I will have my mom for years and years to come.

But for now I just have to wait.

What I can say is my mom is amazing, brave, strong, and optimistic.  If anyone is going to make it through it will be her.

I love you Mom!

Kinder Karneval Parade

On Saturday we braved the crowds to go check out the Kinder Karneval Parade with some of our friends.  All of the schools "compete" to out do the other schools with costumes and themes and do a parade down the Kö.  This parade is way more mellow than some of the others so we figured it would be a little more our speed.  When in Germany at the Karneval parades if you yell "HELAU!!!" you are showered with sweets, treats,and other goodies.  And just like at Halloween, Alessandra figured that out pretty darn quickly.  

Just about everyone dresses up for Karneval, so we put Alessandra in her horse costume again.  This time however we layered her snow suit underneath - true Colorado-Halloween-Trick or Treating-Style.  The added padding definitely pushed her costume out of the cuteness spectrum and into down-right ADORABLE! 

 

The finishing touch I added, which looking back was quite silly because nobody saw it, was a cute little horsey mane up-do for Miss Alessandra Mae.

 

Charmian

A big thank  you to Bethany Handel for all of the great parade pictures.

Sunshine & Puddles

Gum Gum Water...

...and other adorable Alessandra sayings I don't want to forget.

Gum Gum Water - Sparkling Mineral Water

Tomeeya - Banana

Blankie - Blanket

Paci - Pacifier

Solar - Stroller

Seat - Chair

Sep Sool - Step Stool

Mo - More

These last few are pretty obvious but they show how much of an opinionated chatter box she is.

This way! This way!

Sit!  Sit!

Wait! Wait!

Uhh... Ohh... - Right after she's done something she knows she shouldn't.

AAAAAAAhhhh!  Help Please!  

As if by saying please somehow takes a way the fact that she just screamed at me.  

A-sandra do it ahhh me!!!

Wait fo it... Wait fo it...

This one is accompanied by hand motions that would make you think she was trying to tame a bull.

No Eat Dinner Me - No Mom, I'm not hungry, thank you for asking.

No Mama, Real ____ - If she wants a different kind of something.  

For example I offer her a breakfast 'cookie' she will say "No Mama, Real Cookie"

I Do It!

You + Me =

1 Decade

315,633,480 Seconds

2 Kids/2 Dogs

3,652 Days

3 Trips to Italy

1,545 Trips to the Grocery Store (apx.)

4 Cars

5,260,558 Minutes

5 Nights in the Hospital

87,675 Hours

6 Homes

12 Countries

7 Backpacking trips

521 Weeks

8 Cellphones

11 Jobs

9 Weddings - Friends & Family

120 Months

10 Years

10 years ago today I married my best friend!  We have seen many joys and struggles and yet through it all our love has grown.  I am the luckiest women in the world to get to travel through this life with you.

I love you Jon!

Happy Anniversary!

Charmian

Christmas Tree Ladybugs

This year when we brought in our Christmas tree we had a few ladybug, tag-alongs.  Alessandra found them and has quickly become obsessed with finding more Christmas Tree Ladybugs.  It has been about a week since we took out the Christmas Tree but it hasn't stopped Alessandra's hunt.  We were just wrapping up a skype call with my mom when Alessandra grabbed the computer, unplugged it, and carried it over to the patio door.  I asked her what she was doing and her response. "Lookin' for my Christmas Tree Ladybugs with Gommy"  So sweet.

Charmian

I Believe!

Alessandra has been sick and I've been dealing with her and the rest of the household responsibilities solo.  Last night was just like all the others.  I finally got her settled into bed, and I took Dotty out for one last bathroom trip before I tidied up the house and turned in myself.  

This morning I opened up the front door to get Alessandra's boots - I left them out because they were all muddy.  And that's when I saw this.  Sitting quite perfectly on the top of our doggy potty shoes and muddy rain boots.

I wish someone was recording my reaction because if it was half as good as what it felt like, it was pretty darn amazing.  I felt like I was 6 again.  Like I just walked out and saw the one thing I asked Santa, and only Santa for.  

There Is A Santa!

But then I got really confused.  It's the beginning of December.  I asked one of my neighbors who said "Oh yes, Sankt Nikolaus comes last night.  I hope you were good all year!"

My response was, "I must have been, our shoes were filled." 

I came inside, got online with the intention of looking up this holiday and it's traditions when of course I got a bit distracted by facebook, and that's when I saw all of the posts between my expat-parent-friends from the night before.  Warning each other not to forget about this German holiday.

I guess I didn't need to worry about forgetting because the Eich's were just that good that the 

REAL SANKT NIKOLAUS

came and filled our shoes.

And just like that...

I'm still a

  BELIEVER!   

Big Girl Bed

On Wednesday night I was getting Alessandra ready for bed and as I was finishing up our normal routine of saying goodnight to all of her toys, fairies, butterflies, her frog, and angel.  I mentioned saying goodnight to her pretty big girl bed.

That's when she looked at me and said, "A-sandra bed."

"Yes," I told her, "this is your big girl bed."

Then she pointed to her bed and said, "Mommy bed?"

I went on to tell her no this was just her bed and that my and daddy's bed was in the other room.
She then pointed to her bed one more time and said, "My bed!?!"

"Yes sweetie, do you want to sleep in your big girl bed tonight?" I asked.

She smiled and shouted, "Yes!"

We then cuddled up in her bed, said our prayers, sang a song, and listened to a story and then she said, "All done Mommy - Ba-bye."

I was a bit confused by this but I figured if I got it wrong she would tell me.  So I gave her a kiss and walked out of the room. She went on to sing songs quietly in her bed for about an hour before falling asleep.  She woke up that next morning at 4 a.m. saying "poop, poop."  So I picked her up took her to the potty, got her some water and tried to snuggle her back to sleep in the family bed but she had no intention of going back to sleep.  UUGGHH - but her first night in her big girl bed was a success.

The next night we had a few tears but she went to bed pretty easily on her own.  She woke at 3:30 but fell back to sleep after we did our trip to the bathroom, got a drink of water, and snuggled together in the family bed.

Tonight was just like the first night; no tears, no problems.  Just prayers, song, story, and some snuggles and she was asleep.  Hopefully she'll make it passed 4 and if she does wake up hopefully she'll go back to sleep once she comes to bed with us.

So it looks like Jon and I may have our bed back.  Well, at least for a few hours every night.  ;o)

Charmian

Happy Horsey Halloween

Halloween isn't as big of a deal here in Germany as it is in The States but we still wanted Alessandra to have a good experience.  

So we bought some candy, took it to Jon's work, handed it out, and sent Alessandra from desk to desk to go trick or treating. 

We taught her how to say "trick or treat" and "candy please" and sent her on her way

.

We reminded her to say "thank you" and Alessandra added kisses and waves to her repertoire.

Daddy's Birthday

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday Dear Daddy!

Happy Birthday to You!!!

The Things I Don't Want To Forget...

...23 months.

Alessandra is 23 months old today and before I got to busy with the hustle and bustle of the day I decided to do Alessandra's birthday post.

This is the first of what I'm assuming will be a long tradition of interviews.  I decided that this edition of "The things I don't want to forget" would be best suited for video because they are all things that she says and does.

Alessandra says most things really well but there is one word that isn't even close.  And it is so cute when she says it.  Oh, and don't you just love the way she says her name?!?

VIDEO

In this video I tried to catch Alessandra doing her faces.  It didn't really turn out very well but you can get the idea.  Then she takes us on a quick walk.  She is so funny and only a little bit bossy.  ;o)

VIDEO  

That's that.  She is still as tiny as tiny can be.  But she is constantly going, going, going all day long.  She still loves to dance and sing.  She likes to read books, play with her friends, go for bike rides, go to the pool and park.  She is such a character, chatter box, sweet heart, and cuddle bug.  She's our little Sweet Pea and we couldn't imagine what life would be like without her.

As you can see there are no videos.  

Somehow between filming and uploading they got corrupted.  

:o(  

I will re-film and upload as soon as I can.  

UPDATE:
The videos are on my Facebook page - can't figure out how to get them from Facebook to the Blog.

Tea Party!

What?

Not what you were expecting?

I thought this was how everyone played tea party?

Potty Training

Warning:  This post is filled with "TMI" statements.

I've had some questions about how we potty trained Alessandra so quickly, and the answer is - it wasn't quick.  It took almost 18 months.

Birth - 6 months:
That's right we started potty training Alessandra when she was just a couple weeks old when we put her in her first cloth diaper.

• I truly believe that cloth diapers help babies potty train sooner.  It's simple - they can feel when they are wet.  They let you know that they're wet so that you put them in a dry diaper.  And they quickly learn that being dry is more comfortable than being wet.

Jon and I tend to be an open door family.  We don't make a big fuss about making sure the doors are closed even when using the restroom.  That means Alessandra has seen Jon and I use the bathroom  since she was born.

Surprise - Surprise, Jon and I are talkers.  Which means we have talked to Alessandra about everything (including potty talk) since she was born.  We told her when we needed to go, if she was with us we told her what we were doing, when we were done we told her what we just did.  Going to the bathroom has been something she has known about since day one.

7 - 10 months:
When Alessandra started on solid food she didn't like pooing in her diaper.  It was too much work and uncomfortable.  So, when she started pooping she started fussing.  What did I do - I opened up her diaper and rubbed her little belly.  Well, then I realized if I'm going to take off her diaper for her to poo then why don't I take off her diaper and put her on the potty so I don't have to clean up the poop.  So - that's what I did.  She was happy and I was happy.

11 - 13 months:
Alessandra decided it wasn't a big deal to poop in her diaper anymore and she started doing it without a big fuss.  I didn't stress - I didn't feel like we were taking a step back this was a part of her process.

12 - 15 months:
With Alessandra's increased mobility she was able to get around the house easily on her own.  Which led to her "telling" me that she needed to go potty.  She would toddle into the bathroom and bang on the toilet lid and say "poop - poop"  I went along with it and played her potty game.  I'd strip her down and put her on.  Sometimes she'd do something - sometimes she wouldn't. It was a game.  It was like when we played with her dolls or other toys.

When I would go to change her diaper after meal time or nap time I was finding that she was often dry.  On those occasions I would march her into the bathroom and put her on the potty.  If she didn't do anything right away I would "encourage" her to pee by making the pee "psssssss" sound.  Sometimes it worked sometimes it didn't.  Once again - I didn't stress.  She was learning what the potty is for.  And for crying out loud she was only a year old, she didn't need to be potty trained yet.

16 months:
Alessandra started "telling" me more often than not that she needed to go potty and more diapers were dry than wet.  So I decided it was time to start - officially - potty training.  We spent a week in the house.  I rolled up all of the rugs.  Put changing pads down on the furniture or under her for nap time.  And Alessandra was naked or bottomless.  We did use food treats as rewards for when she 1. told us 2. put something in the potty and 3. was still dry.  I know this is a big debate with parents but it worked for us.  So we did it.  (We used mini Smarties - for all of you American's think mini M&M's.  So they are tiny little chocolate treats.)

After the week was over we resumed our normal life.

A day in the life of potty training Alessandra looked like this if we were home:

• wake up  - go potty
• eat breakfast - go potty 
• play - go potty
• nap - go potty
• eat lunch - go potty
• play - go potty
• snack - go potty
• play - go potty
• eat dinner
• get ready for bed - go potty

The only way I changed her schedule when going out was: 

• put pants on Alessandra
• go potty before we left the house
• go potty as soon as we got where we were going
• go potty before we left
• go potty as soon as we got home
• take off Alessandra's pants
• resume above schedule

17 months - now

Alessandra was introduced to panties.  It took this long because I couldn't find any that would fit her here in Germany.  She still wears pull ups for nap time (when I remember) and bed time.  Alessandra has had good times - like when she went a fully week without a single accident or wet pull up.  And bad times - like the day she didn't pee in the potty once (so frustrating and it was this past Tuesday).

When she is having an "off" day I just resort back to the good ole days of potty training and strip her down and then have her "help" me clean up the mess if she has one.  

So that's that.  She still has accidents. I still have to bring changes of clothes when we go out.  But, for the most part she's dry.  The norm for her is to go pee and poop in the potty.  And every once in a while I have to remind myself that she's not even two yet and has been out of diapers for 5 months now.  So she's doing pretty well.

If you have any specific questions feel free to ask.

Charmian 

Biking Up the Rhein

Last night Jon got me a bike.  A brand new bike - out of a box.  

I was willing to settle on the Comfort bike but Jon was set on getting me the TREKKING 400.  

Sounds pretty impressive huh!  

In a nutshell it's a cross over.  

Not quite a mountain bike and not quite a cruiser.

Which I guess is perfect for me since 

I'm not quite a country bumpkin and not quite a city girl. 

  

Jon, the stud, actually assembled it with his few little bike tools in the parking lot.

And to celebrate our new found mobility 

we went on a 20km bike ride from our house up the Rhein and back again.

Here we are at the half way point getting ready to turn around and head home.  

Next time I'll have to stop and take some more pictures.  

Jon still needs to adjust a couple things 

and I really want to get a cushy seat 

but otherwise it's AWESOME!!!!

  Love it and I can't wait to ride it again tomorrow!

Yes, you read me right, I said tomorrow - I love my bike!

Charmian

Autumn Approaches

It's getting colder.

Blankets have been pulled out of storage and are lying on the couch and bed.

Windows are being closed for the first time since spring. 

Sweaters are being pulled on.

Jon's Homemade Veggie Soup is on the stove.

Soon the leaves will start to fall.

Autumn Approaches. 

Charmian

Photo Source:  allthingseurope.tumblr.com for the beautiful photo.